Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

This months issue of UK Guitarist magazine (issue 290 with Strat VG on the cover) has a letter from a reader (in the 'Readers Rants' section) complaining that the 'R' tailpiece on his 330/12 snapped when the guitar was in it's case. He quotes Rosetti as saying that the replacement will cost £100 and take "several months" and Rickenbacker as saying the tailpiece metal "gets quite brittle" when it's made. The editorial is fairly scorning about Rosetti's/Rickenbacker attitude to customer care.

You'd be pretty ****** too if your tailpiece broke off...

Mine broke off and I remained calm.

He can order the part from any USA Rick dealer and have it in much quicker than "a few months". He would have to send in his old "R", though.

Hmm... The "R" tailpiece on my 28-year-old 4080 is still "alive and kickin'". Can this "displeased customer" prove he didn't overtighten the strings and/or use the wrong string gauge on his 330/12?

I wonder if he had a black hardware 330/12. I believe those tailpieces are/were more likely to have problems like this.

Why would the black hardware be more likely to break?

I'm not here.

!!Niether am I but I'll be in soon...

There are explanations about it here or at the rickenbacker.com forum. Trust me, I haven't seen a chrome one go, but I had my black one snap while the guitar was cased, so I believe the story.

Did the reader say the age of his Ric ? The older ones could
(mine did - '90 360/12) ...but the new ones are much stronger,
Mr. Hall has stated this at the Rickenbacker site.

This reader probably doesn't understand why the replacement
policy is in place ...having to return the old one before having
the new one sent off because of them being used in clones
...resulting in a longer turn around time.

I'm sure this reader could use a courier service if needed faster.
As for the cost, hey, this is Rickenbacker, the Cadillac of guitars,
you pay for quality.

"There are explanations about it here or at the rickenbacker.com forum. Trust me, I haven't seen a chrome one go, but I had my black one snap while the guitar was cased, so I believe the story."

I haven't seen anything that references the black vs. the chrome. Actually I've only seen discussions on the chome... Any tips on where I'm missing it?

I'm sure this reader could use a courier service if needed faster.
As for the cost, hey, this is Rickenbacker, the Cadillac of guitars,
you pay for quality


Funny that you pay for quality, then have an important piece snap off, and have a "that's almost normal" demeanor given to you from the distributor.

Still though, it'S been taken care of by the company, so hopefully these cases won't happen often anymore

John - I recall at least one discussion on this topic several years ago, although I can't recall if it was on this forum or the old alt.rickenbacker group. Can anyone else remember and or summarize this/these thread(s)?

On the 'R' tailpiece, as I recall Mr. Hall said it had to do with the zinc alloy used a number of years ago. The alloy was changed providing a better tensile, making it less brittle. Still, even then I think only a handful of 'R' tailpieces broke.